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THE BOYS IN THE BLOCK. 


BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 

The Vocation of Edward Conway. 
A Novel. i2mo, $1.25. 

The Flower of the Flock. i2mo, 

$1.00. 

How They Worked Their Way. 

x2mo, $1.00. 

A Gentleman. i6mo, 75 cents. 


THE 


BOYS IN THE BLOCK. 


BY 

MAURICE FRANCIS EGAN, 

«» 

Author of “ The Vocation of Edward Conzuayf 
“ The Flower of the Flockf etc. 



NEW YORK, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO I 

I3K^s^ZIGE:R BROTHERS, 

Printers to the Holy Apostolic See. 

1897 






Copyright, 1897, by Benziger Brothers. 


THE BOYS IN THE BLOCK. 

I. 

Father Raymond was instructing 
liis First- Communion class. He held 
it three times a week — on Sunday, 
Wednesday, and Friday nights. 
Twenty boys of various sizes came 
tramping through the streets and 
pulled the bell-handle at the base- 
ment door. 

It was about eight o’clock on the 
rrsnal Wednesday night. The Bow- 
ery glittered with lights ; the ele- 
vated trains thundered at intervals 
overhead ; Ah Wnng, who kept a 
laundry at the edge of the Chinese 
quarter, gazed serenely at the vases 
of hideous flowers that stood on a 


6 The Boys in the Block. 

shelf over his ironing-table. His eye 
caught Tom Keefe’s as Tom peered 
through the window. Ah Wung 
shook his head, and muttered some- 
thing unpleasant in his mysterious 
language against this ’Melican boy. 
The glance of the ’ Melican boy had 
rudely brought him back from a 
dream of the Flowery Kingdom, 
where those hideous buds and blos- 
soms in their dragon-covered vases 
were made. But Tom Keefe meant 
Ah Wung no harm. The last time 
he had been at confession, he had 
told the priest how often he had 
“chased the Chinee” — a. form of 
amusement much in vogue in his part 
of the city — and he did not intend to 
do it again. 

He was innocently wondering how 
Ah Wung managed to get his shirts 
so glossy; but Ah Wung did not 
know that. He suddenly rose out of 
his beautiful dream of Canton, or 


The Boys in the Bloch. 


7 


some other Celestial city, where he 
hoped that his bones would be buried, 
and he began very grimly to fill his 
mouth with water, and to spurt it out 
on the clothes before him. He kept 
an eye on Tom, and Tom knew, from 
previous experience, that Ah Wung 
was ready to spurt a mouthful over 
him at the slightest provocation. 

A clock struck eight. Tom looked 
around. Just then a shrill whistle 
sounded on the other side of the 
street. 

“All right,” Tom said; and he 
whistled, too. 

He was joined by another boy of 
about his own age, which was thir- 
teen. 

“ Late, Ned «” 

“No. Father Raymond does not 
begin work till ten minutes after 
eight.” 

“ What kept you ?” 

“ Oh, you see, John didn’t get in 


8 The Boys in the Block. 

till after seven. It was a late day at 
his office and Larry was stuck with 
six Telegrams and seven Mails and 
Expresses until nearly seven, for the 
snow made people hurry along, so 
that they didn’t stop to buy papers. 
And after supper was over I had to 
wash the dishes, for it was my night, 
you know. Come along !” 

Ned looked at Ah Wung and gave 
a startling howl that made the poor 
washer-man start in terror. 

“Don’t,” said Tom. “Let the 
heathen alone. Father Raymond 
says they’re fellow-creatures like us.” 

“They may be,” answered Ned, 
“ but I’m glad I’m not a fellow-creat- 
ure like them. Good-by, cork soles.” 

“ Father Raymond said that we 
were not to plague them.” 

“ All right. I will not. But I for- 
got.” 

Ned Smythe is a ruddy, freckled 
boy, with a snub nose, a sly twinkle 


The Boys in the Block. 9 

in his blue eyes, and big hands and 
feet, which seem very prominent, for 
he does not know what to do with 
them. His clothes are patched, but 
Avarm ; he wears a woollen scarf 
around his neck and tied over his 
ears. 

Tom Keefe is paler and more 
thoughtful-looking. He is much 
thinner and taller than Ned, and he 
walks more slowly, as if he were 
tired. His clothes are more carefully 
kept and better fitting than his com- 
panion’s. Looking at them, one 
could see at a glance that Tom had a 
mother and Ned had not. 

Father Raymond sat at a desk in 
the church basement with nearly all 
his boys ranged before him. He was 
dignified, but benevolent-looking. 
Even his spectacles seemed to refiect 
things good-humoredly. 

‘ ‘ Where’ s Larry to-night V ’ he 
asked, as Tom and Ned entered. 


10 


The Boys in the Block, 


Larry was a year younger than his 
brother Ned. 

“ Please, Father, it’s his washing 
night,” said Ned. 

Father Raymond looked at Ned 
with a slight air of surprise. Sev- 
eral boys giggled. Ned kicked the 
nearest one. 

“ Order !” said Father Ray- 
mond. 

When everything was quiet he be- 
gan the Our Father. Then he and 
the boys said the Hail Mary and the 
Gloria. 

The lesson began. 

Most of the boys had been to con- 
fession, but none of them had made 
his First Communion. 

“ ‘ What’s a sacrament ? ’ ” asked 
Father Raymond of a small boy at 
the end of the bench. He hung his 
head and stammered. 

“ Don’t be afraid, Charlie,” Father 
Raymond said kindly. 


The Boys in the Bloch. 


11 


“There are seven ” began the 

small boy. 

A dozen hands were put up. 

“ Next !” 

“A ceremony ” began another 

boy eagerly. 

“ Next !” 

Tom Keefe tried to collect his 
senses. It was near his turn. Oh, 
dear, if he had only paid particular 
attention to that answer. 

“ Next ! — next ! — next !” 

Father Raymond’s “ nexts” were 
like the snapping of a whip, sharx) 
and quick. 

“ Well, Tom Keefe !” 

“ All the sacraments give grace — ” 
mumbled Tom. 

“ Next !” 

Father Raymond’s face expressed 
astonishment. 

That always made them feel mean, 
they said. 

Tom sat down, his ears tingling. 


12 The Boys in the Bloch, 

As lie did so the answer came to him, 
and he put up his hand. 

‘‘ Too late,” said Father Raymond. 

What is a sacrament ?” 

Please, Father,” cried Ned 
Smythe, trembling, and almost ready 
to cry, please say that over again ?” 

Father Raymond repeated the ques- 
tion as if he were reading to very 
small and stupid children. 

The boys felt ashamed of them- 
selves. 

Oh, I know !” cried Ned. ^ A 
sacrament is an outward sign, insti- 
tuted by Christ, to give grace.’ ” 

It is nearly time somebody an- 
swered it,” commented Father Ray- 
mond. 

The lesson went on with many dis- 
asters. The boys Avorked hard all 
day, and it was hard for them to get 
down to the study of even the easy 
chapters of the catechism. When 
some of the boys had called out 


The Boys in the Block. 


13 


“ Good-night, Father,” and had run 
out into the street. Father Kaymond 
called Ned to his desk. 

Ned went, expecting a reprimand. 
Father Raymond looked at him 
kindly. 

“ Why isn’t Larry here V ’ he asked 
again. 

“It’s his turn to wash, Father.” 

Father Raymond looked puzzled. 

“ John takes care of us, you know, 
Father,” explained Ned, “and he 
makes us take turns in doing the 
work. He does the Avashing one 
week, I take the second, and Larry 
the third. Larry has had to do it 
two weeks in succession because he 
did not come home one night until 
after ten o’clock. He went to the 
theatre. John keeps up discipline.” 

“Do you mean to say that John 
and you and Larry keep house your- 
selves V ’ 

“Yes,” answered Ned. “Of 


14 The Boys in the Block. 

course, Father, at the old stand, 
where father and mother used to 
live. Father was killed by a wall 
falling on him two years ago, and 
mother didn’t live six months after 
that ; so we have to look after our- 
selves.” 

Father Raymond smiled. 

“ Are you a good cook, Ned V' 
“No,” said Ned, very earnestly; 
“ John’s a good cook. You ought 
to taste his hash. It is splendid ! 
Oh, my ! I can wash, though. ” 

“ Yes, he can, Father,” put in Tom 
Keefe, forgetting his manners, in his 
anxiety to support his friend. “ His 
shirt bosoms are almost as shiny as 
Ah Wung’s.” • 

“ I don’t sprinkle ’em with my 
mouth, like a heathen, either,” said 
Ned proudly. 

Father Raymond smiled. He sel- 
dom laughed when the boys were 
present. If he laughed, they would 


The Boys in the Block. 


15 


be sure to attempt “ monkey tricks” 
to make him laugh again. He knew 
them well. 

” Tell Larry to come to my room 
in the parochial house to-morrow 
night. How many boys are there in 
your block ?” 

“ Thirteen,” answered Ned prompt- 
ly. “ It’s a very short block, you 
know. There are the Murphys, two 
of ’em, the three Malones, Tom and 
Bill Keefe, we three, and Alfred 
Schwatz, and his brothers, Michael 
and Henry. You mean the Catholic 
boys, don’t you, Father?” 

“Oh, yes.” 

“ That’s all, then. The Italians 
don’t count.” 

“ Yes, they do ; but Father Bian- 
chi looks after them. Some of them 
are very nice boys.” 

Ned and Tom made no answer. 
They had made up their minds about 
the “ eyetalians.” There was a con- 


10 The Boys in the Bloch. 

stant warfare going on between tlie 
Americans in the block and the Ital- 
ians. Father Raymond wanted to 
stop it. 

“ Henry and Michael Schwa tz and 
the Malone boys do not come to the 
First - Communion class. Do you 
know them ?” 

“Oh, yes,” said Tom; “they’re 
good fellows, but they like to go to 
the theatre on Saturday nights, and 
then they don’t feel like getting up 
in the morning. ” 

Father Raymond shook his head 
gravely. 

“ Could not you boys bring them 
to the class f ’ 

“Not much!” cried Ned; then 
he reddened and stammered, “ I did 
not mean to talk that way, Father ; 
I forgot myself.” 

Father Raymond nodded. 

“ Well, good-night, boys. Study 
your catechism lesson well for next 


The Boys in the Block. 15' 

class-night, and don’t be too hard on 
the Italians. Stop — here are two 
tickets for a concert to-morrow night.” 

The boys took the tickets, and 
thanked the priest. He bent down 
to finish a letter. They looked at the 
tickets, and read the programme on 
the back of them. 

“ A lot of hi-falutin’ music we can’t 
understand!” said Tom. “ If it was 
only Gilmore’s, now 1 I tell you, he 
had the boss band at Coney Island 
last summer.” 

“ It’s no use to have Father Ray- 
mond ■waste his tickets on us. We 
don’t care for this classical stuff;” 
and he spelled out “ Moonlight So- 
nata.” “ What does that mean ? I’d 
rather hear Harrigan sing ‘ A Pitcher 
of Beer. ’ ” 

Ned took the tickets back to Fa- 
ther Raymond, and said respectfully : 

“ We hope you will give these tick- 
ets to some one proper. Father. The 


18 The Boys in the Block. 

music would be just wasted on us. 
We’d rather go to the theayter. 
We’re much obliged. You don’t hap- 
pen to have any bill-poster tickets, 
do you ? They’d be good enough for 
us.” 

Tom Keefe pulled Ned’s jacket as 
hard as he could. He was shocked 
by such a bold request. Neverthe- 
less, he waited anxiously until Father 
Raymond sealed his envelope, in the 
hope that the good priest might pos- 
sibly produce some theatre tickets 
from the breast of his cassock, where 
he was supposed to keep a supply 
of pictures, medals, scapulars, pen- 
knives, and lead-pencils. 

Father Raymond knew very well 
that Ned did not mean the faintest 
disrespect. What w’ould have been 
disrespectful in boys of better breed- 
ing was simply the usual way of 
these children, who were without 
much direction at home. 


The Boys in the Block. 10 

“ I wish you boys would go less to 
the theatre,” said Father Raymond. 
“ Once in a while it does you no 
harm ; but as a regular thing it is 
bad.” 

“But it brightens a fellow up 
when he’s been selling papers all 
day,” said Tom, “and things are 
rather dull at home. Oh, Father 
Raymond” — Tom was so sure of the 
kind priest’s sympathy, that he often 
made sudden confidences, which gave 
Father Raymond many clews in deal- 
ing with the boys — “ you ought to 
see ‘ The Cowboy’s Revenge ! ’ It 
is boss. There’s a fellow that got 
into trouble because he killed his 
own brother, and he goes to Texas, 
and resolves to blow himself up with 
dynamite, which he carries in a ring 
on his little finger, and he meets a 
cowboy, and the cowboy sees a scar 
on his third finger, and says, . ‘ Me- 
thinks I see one I have known, ’ in a 


20 


The Boys in the Bloch, 


tliunderous tone, and tlien a damsel 
— she was a girl with red cheeks, but 
the people in the play call her a dam- 
sel-rushes out of a castle and says, 
‘ He-is-your-long-lost-brother-thereis- 
dy namite-in-his-ring, ’ and then the 
cowboy grips the ring, and there is 
an awful explosion, and then ” 

“Stop,” said Father Raymond, 
‘ ‘ that’s enough. What good does all 
that stuff do you ?” 

“ It livens a fellow up,” said Xed, 
in a discouraged voice. He thought 
that Father Raymond might have 
waited till he told how the dynamite 
blew up a desperate viUain, who was 
concealed in the castle, and how the 
long-lost brothers were happily uni- 
ted ; but Father Rajunond did not 
seem to care. 

“ Next week I’ll tell you the story 
of St. Sebastian,” said Father Ray- 
mond. “ It’s true, and more thrill- 
ing than those cowboy lies.” 


The Boys in the Bloclc. 


21 


“Thank you, Father,” said tlie 
boys. 

“ And, Ned, give my best regards 
to John, and tell him I’d like to see 
him sometime. Keep out of mis- 
chief. God bless you both.” 


23 


The Boys in the Block. 


II. 

The block was a short row of houses 
in a New York street, leading into 
the Bowery. The Bowery, it is said, 
has its name from the fact that it 
was, in old Knickerbocker days, a 
pleasant rural walk — a real “ bower” 
of trees and shrubs. Looking at the 
row of glistening stores, hearing the 
clatter of the trains on the elevated 
railroad, it is hard to believe that the 
long, bustling thoroughfare was ever 
a country place. 

The houses in the block were very 
tall. The lower part of each con- 
tained a store ; the cellar, too, was 
used either as a store or as a dwell- 
ing for very poor people. All the 
people in the block were poor, but 


The Boys in the Bloch. 23 

some were poorer than others. These 
cellars were generally occupied by 
Chinese. The block contained a good 
many representations of various na- 
tionalities. Among them were sev- 
eral Italian families. 

The boys in the block were divided 
into two cliques— one made up of the 
Italians and the other of the boys al- 
ready mentioned. Their hands were 
against each other and both were 
against the Chinese. 

So far, Father Raymond had in 
vain preached peace. There was no 
peace. 

Giuseppe Baldini let a piece of wa- 
termelon fall on Ned Keefe’s head. 
Ned punched Giuseppe when he had 
a chance. 

Later, in the catechism class for 
the Italians, Giuseppe had been asked 
if he understood the meaning of for- 
giving his enemies. 

“ Si si,’’'* he had answered at once. 


'Zi: I'he Boys in the Block. 

“ If somebody hit you,” asked the 
teacher, “would you forgive them ?” 

“ Bi — oh, yes,” answered Giuseppe, 
readily, thinldng of Ned Keefe, “ if 
I couldn’t catch him !” 

Beppo Testa tied a tomato can to 
the tail of Ned Smythe’s dog, and 
Ned Smythe declared war against the 
three Testas, who played the harp, 
flute, and violin for a living. 

Everybody in the block was soon 
more or less mixed up in the feud. 
It made the street in front of the 
block unsafe. The Italian boys, few- 
er in number than the others, had to 
get up early and run off about their 
business as quickly as they could. 
They prudently tried to get home be- 
fore the others. 

Every floor of the block contained, 
at least, three families. The war was 
not carried on inside the house. An 
occasional fight on the stairs oc- 
curred, but by common consent there 


The Boys in the Block. 25 

was a trace once the house was 
gained. 

Tom and Ned went, with the best 
intentions, towards home after Fa- 
ther Raymond dismissed them. They 
felt virtuous. They were conscious 
of being truly good. They thought 
how much better they were than the 
other fellows who did not know their 
catechism lesson. 

Boys in this rarely complacent 
state of mind had better be careful. 
A boy that feels his weakness is less 
likely to get into scrapes than he who 
thinks he is much better than his fel- 
low-beings. 

Tom and Ned walked on, sedately 
whistling a favorite tune in unison. 
As they neared the block, they saw 
Giuseppe Baldini and Beppo Testa 
crossing the street. 

“ Let’s frighten them,” Ned said. 

“No,” Tom answered; “Father 
Raymond would not like it.” 


26 


The Boys in the Block. 


“ Just for fun, you know.” 

Tom hesitated. Bej)po carried his 
violin and Giuseppe had a bag strung 
across his back. 

Beppo was a short boy, with large 
black eyes, white teeth, and black 
curly hair. Cold as it was, his rag- 
ged jacket was wide open in front. 
He had a pleasant expression, and he 
smiled whenever he had a chance. 

Giuseppe was taller, not so dark, 
more quiet and thoughtful than 
Beppo. 

Neither Giuseppe nor Beppo saw 
the two other boys. 

“Come now,” whispered Ned, 
“ we’ll frighten them.” 

Tom, in spite of his good resolu- 
tions and self-complacency, did not 
resist this appeal. He and Ned dart- 
ed behind a cart which stood in the 
street. 

Beppo was softly singing “ Santa 
Lucia.” Giuseppe looked around. 


The Boys in the Block. 27 

Who could tell whether the Murphys, 
the Malones, the Schwatzes, or other 
enemies might not be lying in wait % 
Giuseppe stopped. He thought he 
heard a sound. 

“ Whoop ! give it to the Dagoes !” 
cried Hed, suddenly uttering the war- 
cry of his faction, and rushing from 
his retreat followed by Tom. 

Giuseppe and Beppo stood still a 
minute, and then probably remem- 
bering that such attacks were never 
made by their enemies, except in 
large parties, turned and fled. 

Ned and Tom ran after them, utter- 
ing unearthly yells. It seemed to the 
Italian boys as if half a dozen of their 
tormentors were on their track. 

Giuseppe and Beppo made a dash 
towards the door of their dwelling ; 
but Tom, who had now forgotten 
everything but the excitement of the 
chase, headed them off. Giuseppe 
jumped backwards, not noticing that 


38 The Boys in the Block. 

tlie entrance to the cellar had been 
left open, and fell headlong with a 
cry of fright, which, as he struck the 
ground with a thud, changed into a 
groan. 

Beppo would have fallen, too, had 
not Tom caught him. As it was, he 
w’as knocked against the wall. He 
tried hard to save his violin by hold- 
ing it in his arms. It was in vain. 
The force which pushed him crushed 
the instrument between him and the 
wall. 

Beppo uttered a cry of despair, and 
carried the ruins of his violin to the 
light of the street-lamp. He wrung 
his hands. 

“ He couldn’t go on more if he’d 
killed a baby,” muttered Ned, feel- 
ing very much ashamed of himself. 
“ It’s only an old fiddle.” 

Beppo sobbed and gesticulated un- 
der the lamp-post. 

“ I am lost ! I am lost !” he ex- 


The Boys in the Bloch. 29 

claimed in Italian. “It’s my father’s 
violin.” 

“Don’t be a fool!” said Ned. 
“ Don’t cry like a big baby. The 
thing can be mended, can’t it ?” 

“ Never !” cried the Italian boy ; 
“ never— no !” 

Ned saw that the violin was split 
clearly in two. The strings hung 
loose. It had parted, so that they 
clung to one piece, while the other 
was stringless. Ned’s heart sank. 
He had a good heart. Oh, why had 
he not followed Father Raymond’s 
advice ! 

Tom had gone down into the cellar 
in search of Giuseppe. He found 
him kneeling on the ground at the 
foot of the steps, trying to gather the 
apples which had been scattered from 
his bag as he fell. 

Tom stooped down and tried to 
help him. It was dark and it was 
hard to find the apples. Tom lit a 


30 2'he Boys in the Bloch. 

match. He saw that Giuseppe had a 
cut on his head. 

Giuseppe recognized him and went 
up the steps, clutching his bag. 

“Wait a minute,” Tom said. 
“ You’d better let me help you.” 

“ You’ve already helped me to a 
cut head,” answered Giuseppe, “ and 
lost my apples. I don’t want any 
more help.” 

When Giuseppe reached the street 
and saw the condition of Beppo’s vio- 
lin, he became very angry. 

“You are nice Christians, ” he said. 
“You chase poor boys and try to 
hurt them. You are worse than the 
heretics. Poor Beppo can no longer 
play. He must starve, and Nina 
must starve. His brother, Filippo, 
is sick, and Ricardo is away in the 
country. What can be done now 
that Beppo has no violin ?” 

Ned and Tom felt very bad and un- 
comfortable. They were silent. If 


The Boys in the Block. 31 

Giuseppe liad raved about his own 
misfortunes they would have an- 
swered him in their own way. But 
the sight of Giuseppe forgetting his 
injuries in those of another made 
them feel like brutes. 

Beppo leaned against the wall of 
the house, bending over his crushed 
violin. He was the very picture of 
despair. 

“ You’d better go home,” said Ned 
gruffly, to hide his feeling. 

Beppo made no answer. 

“ Perhaps he’s afraid to go home,” 
Tom suggested. “ Let’s go with him 
and tell his people we did it.” 

“Very well,” said Ned reluctant- 
ly, and then, turning to Giuseppe, 
“ you can tell your folks that I cut 
your head, and that I lost your ap- 
ples. If they want satisfaction, tell 
them they can take it out of me.” 

“ Will you give me back the ap- 
ples 1” demanded Giuseppe. “ They 


33 The Boys in the Block. 

are very dear. I bought them to sell 
on a stand. I have lost a dozen, at 
least.” 

Ned made no reply to this practical 
proposition. He took Beppo’s vio- 
lin, and caught Beppo by the shoul- 
der. Assisted by Tom, he half-drag- 
ged, half -carried the weeping boy up 
to a room on the fourth floor. He 
knocked at the door. 

” Hush !” whispered a voice within. 

The door opened. The boys saw 
an interior dimly lighted by a kero- 
sene lamp. On a shelf against the 
wall was a colored statue of the Bless- 
ed Virgin, ornamented with some ar- 
tificial flowers. There were three 
beds in the room, which was without 
carpet or other furniture, except a 
stool, a chair, and a table. 

A little girl appeared in the door- 
way. 

“Hush!” she whispered. “ I have 
just made Filippo go to sleep.” 


The Boys in the Bloch. 33 

She was an olive-skinned little girl, 
with large black eyes and a sweet ex- 
pression. She wore a dress rather 
longer than American girls of her age 
— which was about thirteen — wear. 
Around her shoulders was drawn a 
gayly colored, three-cornered shawl. 

She looked at Ned and Tom, and 
the smile on her face turned to a look 
of fear. 

“ Have you hurt Beppo f ’ 

“ Ah, no, Nina,” sobbed Beppo, 
“ I wish they had ! They have made 
me break our father’s violin.” 

“ Broken !” cried Nina, seizing the 
mutilated violin and kissing it. 
“ And the dear father — may he rest 
in peace — loved it so !” 

“ What a fuss about an old fiddle !” 
muttered Ned. 

Tom made no answer. Nina’s grief 
caused him to feel more like a brute 
than ever. 

“No good ever comes of disobey- 


3i The Boys in the Block. 

ing Father Raymond,” he said. 
“ We’ve done a mean thing, Ned, 
and no mistake. It makes me sick 
to think of it.” 

“ We’d better go,” Ned said. 

Nina looked at them reproachfully. 
“ What did Beppo do to you ?” 

“ He made a face at me the other 
day,” responded Ned promptlj^ 
Nina’s eyes flashed. 

“ And for that you broke our pre- 
cious violin ? How will Beppo earn 
money now ? He cannot play Filip- 
po’ s harp, and Ricardo is in the coun- 
try. We can no longer buy medicine 
for Filippo. We must starve !” 
Nina’s gestures grew more impres- 
sive. She pointed to the statue of 
the Madonna. “ How can you ex- 
pect the Blessed Virgin to love you 
Ned felt very uneasy. 

“ If Beppo had turned around and 
showed fight, like a man, he would 
not have broken his fiddle, ” he said. 


The Boys in the Bloch. 


35 


“ But you frightened us in the 
dark,” said Beppo, sobbing still. 
“There are so many of you in the 
block. We thought that you were a 
great crowd.” 

Mna’s eyes flashed again. 

“You Irish and American boys are 
cowards,” she said. “ You attack 
our Italian boys because you think 
they will run.” 

Ned clenched his fist. 

“ Oh, yes,’ ’ Nina said sarcastically, 
“ hit me. I’m only a girl, but I will 
not run. I am surprised that Father 
Raymond does not teach you better.” 

“ He does,” said Tom. 

“ I’m sorry we did not mind him,” 
said Ned. 

“Come in, Beppo,” Nina contin- 
ued — “come ; we will, at least, starve 
together. I hope you are satisfied 
with your work.” 

“ Good - night,” Ned answered 
feebly. 


36 Tlie Boys in the Bloch. 

“ Good-niglit, gentlemen.,'" re- 
sponded Nina, shutting the door. 

But the boys’ quick ears heard both 
Beppo and her sobbing over the vio- 
lin. 

“ 1 never felt so mean in my life,” 
said Tom. 

‘ ‘ They are making an awful fuss 
over that fiddle. We’ll have to help 
them some way. ” 

‘ ‘ I don’ t see how we can, N ed, we 
have as much as we can do to help 
ourselves.” 

“ I wish I could blame it all on 
somebody else. I do, indeed ! But 
I can’t. It was all our fault !” 

“ That little girl gave us some 
home thrusts. It’s a nasty business, 
Ned. We’ll have to stop plaguing 
the Italians. It never struck me be- 
fore that we were doing them much 
harm. I wish we hadn’t acted like 
_like ” 

“ Cowards,” Ned said. 


The Boys in the Bloch. 


37 


III. 

The washing Avas almost over when 
Ned Smythe, in a despondent frame 
of mind, reached home. John was 
trying hard to master a tough sum 
in fractions, for, although he was 
nearly twenty-one years of age, he 
had never had time to go to school 
for more than a few months in all his 
life. He was now a porter in a com- 
mission office, down -town ; he was as 
industrious as he was ambitious, he 
wmnted to be something more, and 
he knew that to rise, he must edu- 
cate himself. So he worked with all 
his might when he had time. It was 
a slow task without a teacher. Be- 
sides, he had his share of the house- 
hold work to do, Avhich consisted of 


38 The Boys in the Bloclc. 

the sewing and mending of the fam- 
ily. John could sew like a sailor. 
A tailor might have smiled at some 
of his seams, but they were strong. 
John had not served a year on the 
bark Curlew, bound from New York 
to Havana and back, for nothing. 
He could use his hands more skil- 
fully than any landlubber. 

John was big and stalwart. A 
healthy, honest fellow, with wide- 
open eyes that looked straight at the 
world. 

Larry, who was washing his last 
pair of stockings, looked sleepy. 
He was a chubby boy, always with a 
tear in his clothes, no matter how 
diligently John might mend. 

The room in which the boys cooked, 
talked, ate, and read, when they did 
read, had a neat square of bright car- 
pet in the centre of the floor. It con- 
tained a big cooking stove, a table 
and several chairs. The walls were 


The Boys in the Bloch. 39 

papered with pictures cut from illus- 
trated papers. Their sleeping-room 
was much smaller. 

Their rooms were clean and warm 
—in contrast to those of many of 
their neighbors, where dirt and 
warmth seemed to be inseparable. 

Ned opened the door and said : 

“How d’ye do, boys!” and sank 
into a chair by the fire. 

“ I say,” Larry said, “ did you get 
‘ The Bandit of the Pyrenees ’ from 
Tom Keefe ? He said he’dlend it to us.” 

John raised his head from his book 
of arithmetic. 

“ Look here, Larry, I told you you 
should not read books like that. 
And, Ned, I hope you will not en- 
courage him to break my rule.” 

“ Very well,” Ned said briefly. 

“ I guess you read them yourself 
when you were my age,” Larry burst 
out. “ If you hadn’t read too many 
novels, you’d never have gone to sea.” 


40 The Boys in the Block. 

“ That is true, Larry,” John an- 
swered, Avith that mixture of gentle- 
ness and firmness which had enabled 
him to control these hot-headed lads, 
“ that is true. If I had minded wiser 
people, I would not have suffered as 
I did. I came home, after my last 
voyage in the Curlew., with a broken 
arm. For weeks I could get nothing 
to do, for nobody wanted to hire a 
boy who could use but one arm. I 
learned how foolish this reading of 
bad novels is.” 

“They’re not bad,” snapped Lar- 
ry, who had let his iron stay so long 
in one place, that there was a warn- 
ing smell of burning stocking. “ I 
never saw a bad word in any of them. 
The good people always get the 
money, and kill the bad people in 
the end.” 

“ You’d better stick to your cate- 
chism, I say,” answered John. 

“ I am not going to work all day 


The Boys in the Bloch. 


41 


and liave no fun at all. I am fond of 
reading, and I like good, stirring 
novels.” 

“ You liad better study something 
useful.” 

“ I want fun for awhile.” 

“ I don’t,” put in Ned. “ John is 
right. Tom Keefe and I have been 
having fun, and I never felt so mean 
in my life.” 

J ohn turned up the light and look- 
ed anxiously into Ned’s face. 

“No scrape I hope— and after 
catechism class, too.” 

“ That’s the worst of it. Father 
Raymond told me to meditate on the 
duty of loving my neighbors as my- 
self, and he said, too, that Italians 
and everybody were our neighbors, 
and then I went out, and I’ll tell you 
what I did.” 

It was an admirable trait in the 
Smythes that they were entirely 
frank. They had no secrets from 


43 


The Boys in the Block. 


one another. They would tell un- 
pleasant things and look for advice, 
sympathy, or even a scolding wdth 
complete indifference. John had 
taught them to be frank. 

John shook his head gravely when 
Ned had finished. 

“It’s too bad,” he said. 

Ned moved uneasily in his chair. 

“ I didn’t think,” he said. 

“But you and Tom have hurt both 
Beppo and Giuseppe, Just the same 
as if you had thought.” 

“ 1 know that,” said Ned. 

“I’ll drop in and see the Testas to- 
morrow night.” 

“ Don’t, John,” said Larry ; “ they 
wull pixt a stiletto into you.” 

“ I see you have learned a great 
deal out of your novels, Larry. 
Now,” continued John, “ when moth- 
er was alive, she used to take an in- 
terest in the Italians that lived near 
us. She was Just as poor as they 


The Boys in the Block. 43 

were, but she knew how to be neat 
and clean, and make things comforta- 
ble. She and the Italians were great 
friends. She helped them all she 
could. ‘ They’re Christians like us,’ 
she was always saying, ‘ and we must 
show some Christian love for them.’ 
And she did. She would send a 
bunch of our red geraniums to help 
take the chill of death off a little 
child that lay in its coffin, or she’d 
send some other neighborly thing 
within her reach. And whenever 
there was a marriage or a christen- 
ing, the Italians would always ask 
her to be present, and send in some 
sweetmeats for us children, or a bot- 
tle of wine. They were not a bad 
lot. And I think that if we really 
mean to profit by the lessons of the 
catechism, we ought to put them in 
practise. To go and talk about love 
for one’s neighbor, and then go to 
chase one’s neighbor until his neck 


44 


2'lie Boys in the Block. 


is nearly broken, is not a way of liv- 
ing honest and Christian-like.” 

“ Preach on, preach ever,” said 
Larry, yawning. 

John’s cheeks reddened. 

“You ought to have more respect 
for John,” said Ned. “ Preaching 
or no preaching, he has kept a com- 
fortable roof over our heads.” 

Larry only grinned. He loved 
John, but he did not like to show it. 

Ned went to bed with a heavy 
heart. He did not fall asleep as 
usual. He thought about Beppo’s 
misfortune, until his brain seemed to 
be nothing but confusion. And then 
Giuseppe’s question about the apples 
worried him. What would Father 
Raymond say ? 

Ned had a miserable time, but at 
151st he fell asleep. 

John was not hard on the boys. 
He allowed them as much money as 
he could for themselves, so Ned and 


The Boys in the Block. 45 

Larry had, unless the times were un- 
usually hard, a little hoard of their 
own. Larry never had his long ; but 
Ned added something every week to 
his little sum, which he kept tied in 
an old stocking under the bed. He 
had saved nearly six dollars. He 
had made many plans about this 
money. He thought of buying John 
a pair of heavy winter boots ; of get- 
ting a little stand and beginning the 
cigar business, in connection with a 
chair and a box for blacking boots ; of 
having a cutaway coat for Sunday, 
like those worn by some of the more 
aristocratic boys in the block ; and of 
playing an accordion. 

This last thought had a sweetness 
all its own. Ned had often imagined 
himself in the act of pushing and 
dragging “ Sweet Violets” from the 
instrument he loved. He felt, how- 
ever, that he must give up even 
this beautiful dream. On the next 


46 The Boys in the Bloch. 

morning lie went over to see Tom 
Keefe. 

Tom was getting ready to go to 
work. But before starting lie had 
to wash the faces of his three little 
brothers and help his mother to clear 
away the breakfast things. Tom 
lived with his father and mother on 
the third floor of a house in the block, 
not quite so crowded as the one in 
which Ned lived. His parents had 
three rooms, and they kept the place 
as snug and comfortable as they 
could. 

It was impossible to avoid hearing 
the bad language of the evil people 
who lived in the house and in the 
neighborhood ; and it was no uncom- 
mon thing to meet a drunkard reeling 
up-stairs. But Tom’s father and 
mother did the best they could to 
keep their children pure. They sent 
the younger ones to the Brothers’ 
school, and made the eldest — Tom — 


The Boys in the Bloch. 47 

go regulai’ly to Father Raymond’s 
class. Every night after supper, all 
the family said the Rosary, and on 
Sunday nights, Tom, who had a good 
voice, sang a hymn, assisted by the 
whole family. Tom’s father liked to 
have his family around him on Sun- 
day nights. Sometimes the Smythes 
dropped in, and a concert was the or- 
der of the night. Tom’s father and 
mother believed that the best way to 
keep him and his brothers out of the 
streets was to make their home cheer- 
ful. 

Tom’s mother was tying up a i)ack- 
age of luncheon for him, when Ned 
entered and said, “ Good-morning.” 

Ned waited until the luncheon was 
ready and started out with Tom. 
Tom was an errand-boy in an office, 
down-town. 

“ I came to ask you to go over to 
the Testas’ with me.” 

Tom shook his head. 


48 The Boys in the Block, 

“Not at all — I don’t want to go 
near them. They will not want to see 
us.” 

Ned pulled six silver dollars from 
his pocket. 

“ I am going to ask Beppo to buy 
a new violin with these.” 

Tom started in amazement. 

“ But how about the accordion ?” 

“I’ll have to do without it, that’s 
all. Will you come to the Testas’ 
with me ?” 

“All right !” said Tom. 

They found Beppo and Nina seated 
on the floor, trying to put the violin 
together. Nina had been crying, 
Beppo was still crying. 

The visitors stood timidly on the 
threshold. Nina saw them, but her 
eyes flashed, and she turned her back 
to them. Filippo had slightly raised 
himself on his pillow. He watched 
the efforts of the children, and shook 
his head mournfully. 


The Boys in the Bloch. 49 

“No more music from that violin !’ ’ 
he said. 

Ned walked up to the two and laid 
his six silver dollars on the floor, 
near the violin. Beppo started from 
his knees. 

“ What for ?” he asked. 

“ To buy another fiddle — that’s 
all,” answered Ned shamefacedly. 

“Impossible!” said Filippo, from 
the bed ; “ one could never buy 
a violin like that with all the 
money one could earn. It was a 
treasure.” 

Ned sighed. 

“ Well,” he said, “ I can’t do any 
more than offer you all I have.” 

Nina pushed the money away from 
her. 

“ I would not take it, Beppo. I 
would starve first. These boys hate 
us 1” 

Ned took up his money. 

“ I see it is no use,” he said. “ I 


50 The Boys in the BlocTc. 

suppose I may as well buy an accor- 
dion, after all.” 

Beppo raised liis head. 

“ Nina is wrong ; I can see that you 
do not hate us. But it needs much 
money — ah, so much money ! — to buy 
a good violin.” As Beppo said this 
he seemed to sink into utter de- 
spair. 

“Nonsense!” exclaimed Tom. 
“ Don’t give up so easily. Never say 
die. Why can’t you hire a fiddle. 
Old Altieri in the cellar has two. 
Give him fifty cents a week, or less, 
and he’ll lend you one.” 

Beppo and Nina looked at each 
other in sudden hope. 

“ He speaks well,” said Nina, look- 
ing favorably on Tom. “ I did not 
think he had so much sense.” 

“ Ah, yes,” answered Beppo, “ but 
we have not the fifty cents. Ah, no, 
we have not the money.” 

“ There it is,” said Ned promptly. 


Tlie Boys in the Bloch. 51 

thrusting his six dollars in Beppo’s 
hand. 

“ He will pay you back,” said 
Nina proudly. “ As you do not 
really hate us, we will take your 
money ; but we will pay you back. 
See, I will mark it down.” 

Nina lit a match, let it burn for a 
few seconds, and wrote something in 
Italian on the white wall, which was 
used very often for this kind of book- 
keeping. 

“Now let’s go,” said Ned, afraid 
that Filippo or Beppo might thank 
him. He did not expect thanks from 
Nina. She seemed inclined to look 
on the transaction as a strictly busi- 
ness one. 

“We shall pay you back,” said 
Nina proudly. 


52 


The Boys ill the Block. 


IV. 

The news of the misfortunes of 
Giuseppe and Beppo spread through 
the block. And when Tom told his 
“ crowd” how sorry Ned and he had 
been made by the condition to which 
the Testas had been brought, the 
Italians were not molested. Father 
Eaymond heard, too, of Ned’s effort 
to repair the mischief he had done, 
and he spoke of it at the next cate- 
chism class. Beppo Testa hired a 
violin and began business again. Fa- 
ther Raymond began to feel that his 
teaching was bearing fruit. He did 
not want his boys to have only a par- 
rot-like acquaintance with the Chris- 
tian Doctrine. He wanted them to 
show that they were Christians in 


The Boys in the Block. 53 

their lives. It was vain, he thought, 
that the boys could tell him what the 
greatest of the commandments was, 
if 'the crop of broken heads and the 
complaints of injury still increased in 
the block. 

Father Raymond had succeeded in 
getting all the boys of the block to 
come to his class, except Larry 
Smythe. Even the two Schwatz boys, 
ruddy, curly-headed little fellows, 
who spent all the money they could 
get at the theatre, came and were in- 
terested in Father Raymond’s in- 
structions and stories. The two Mur- 
phys and the three Malones were al- 
ways in time, with clean faces and 
hands, which, at least, showed that 
an effort had been made to make 
them white. 

The block was at peace, so far as 
the boys were concerned. Some of 
the grown-up people quarrelled among 
themselves, but the boys earned ad- 


54 The Boys in the Block. 

miration, even from the policeman of 
their district, by their careful con- 
duct. 

John Smythe was very uneasy. 
Larry had become unmanageable of 
late. He hurried through his work, 
and then pulled out a novel or a story- 
paper and busied himself in it. He 
had acquired a habit of reading in 
the street ; a story-paper always stuck 
out of his pocket. He walked about 
as if in a dream. John could hardly 
get a word from him. When Ned 
asked whether he would have some 
bread one evening, he answered : 

“ Twenty scalps !” 

He was thinking of some of the 
Indian fights he had been reading 
about. When John did not give him 
some household task to do after sup- 
per, he went out very silently and 
mysteriously. 

Where he went John did not know. 
He tried to find out who his compan- 


The Boys in the Bloch. 55 

ions were. But Larry would not tell. 
Father Raymond came and talked to 
him, but he was sullen and quiet. 
All John’s threats and Father Ray- 
mond’s persuasions were not suffi- 
cient to get him to go to the cate- 
chism class. 

Finally, John ordered Larry to 
stay home at night. He obeyed for 
a time, and then stole from the house 
when John’s back was turned. John 
threatened him with all the house- 
work. This had some effect, for Lar- 
ry hated to wash dishes and to sweep 
and all the “ girls’ work,” which he 
and his brothers were obliged to do, 
and for awhile, after John had utter- 
ed this horrible threat, Larry came 
home regularly and did his part of 
the work. 

John disliked household work very 
much, too. He was the most indus- 
trious of the young men in the em- 
ployment of Wilmer & Co., which 


56 The Boys in the Bloch. 

firm promised to advance him, as 
soon as he conld educate himself 
sufficiently. But he had little time 
for improvement. When he got 
home at night he was very tired, and 
there were many things that had to 
be looked after. Many a time, when 
Ned or Larry was particularly hard 
to manage, John was tempted to give 
up the effort to keep the little family 
together. Other people told him that 
he was sacrificing too much for the 
sake of his brothers. 

“ You are losing your chances,” 
these people said to him ; “ your 
brothers will probably prove ungrate- 
ful.” 

But John answered that he kiiew 
all this. He felt that it was his duty 
to take care of his brothers. He said 
to himself that he had no right to 
think about any reward, even of 
gratitude, from them. He knew that 
by letting them shift for themselves 


Tlie Boys in the Block. 57 

he would improve his position. He 
could go and board in some quiet 
house, and have all his evenings for 
study. Other poor boys, no older 
than Ned and Larry, were out in the 
world. They were very hard to man- 
age. But John had learned his cate- 
chism well. He knew the meaning 
of the question, “ What doth it profit 
a man to gain the whole world and 
lose his own soul 

It was better that he should know 
that he was pleasing God, by giving 
up his own ease, than that he should 
choose to gain advancement by leav- 
ing his brothers unprotected from the 
evil around them. 

Larry could not or would not un- 
derstand this. He imagined John re- 
strained him just because he did not 
want him and Ned to have any 
pleasure. 

“ John’s too hard on us,” he said 
to Ned. “He doesn’t care for the 


58 The Boys in the Block. 

theatre, and that’s why he doesn’t 
like us to go. He likes to read old, 
\ry school-books, and he wants us to 
like ’em, too. He’s awfully dry. I 
say, Hed, Ted Malone has a big pile 
of story -papers and novels hid away 
somewhere. He lent me some. 
They’re boss, I tell you.'''’ 

“What have you been reading?” 
Ned asked. 

“ Oh, I have just finished ‘ The 
Bloody Avenger ; or. Twelve on the 
Track of Heath,’ and I’ve another in 
my pocket, ‘ The Boy Gambler ; or. 
The Scalp-Hunter’s Love.’ Look at 
this picture,” Larry said, opening a 
worn and ragged paper and showing 
a coarse cut of a small boy flourishing 
a revolver in each hand and holding 
a dagger in his teeth, while two Ind- 
ians lay dead near him, and he was 
kicking at a Chinese, whose hands 
were filled with playing cards. 

“ It’s boss !” cried Larry. “ Ted 


The Boys in the Block, 59 

Malone says that you can buy re- 
volvers like that dirt cheap, and 
Henry Schwatz showed us a rifle his 
father had in the war. If you want 
to get scalps ” 

“ Father Raymond says that we 
ought not to read these things,” an- 
swered Ned ; “he says they hurt 
boys’ minds.” 

“ What does he know ?” exclaimed 
Larry. “ They never hurt my mind. 
Why, Henry Schwatz has one hun- 
dred and ten, and he can tell you all 
about trappers in the West, and how 
many scalps a fellow could bring 
down in a week if ” 

Larry turned suddenly. John had 
entered from the other room. 

“Give me that paper !” 

Larry stuffed it into his pocket. 

John took hold of his arm. 

“ Give me that paper !” 

Larry threw the paper at him. 

“ There -take it ! It isn’t mine. 


60 The Boys in the Bloch. 

It’s Ted Malone’s. You’re a mean 
curmudgeon to hurt a fellow’s arm. 
Why don’t you tackle a boy of your 
size ?” 

John walked over to the stove and 
thrust the paper into the lire. 

Larry yelled and shook his fist at 
John. 

“I’ll make you pay for this !” cried 
Larry ; “ you ought to be ashamed of 
yourself to burn a fellow’s paper 
that way. Approach me again, ” he 
continued, suddenly borrowing the 
language of some of his favorite au- 
thors, “and I’ll brain you as you 
stand, perjured villain !” 

Larry had not the least idea of 
what “ perjured villain” meant. But 
he flung the phrase at his brother 
with all his might. In spite of his 
feeling of disgust, that Larry should 
behave so badly, John had to laugh 
at this grandiloquence. The laugh 
hurt Larry worse than hard words, 


The Boys in the Block. 


61 


particularly as Ned joined in it. 
Larry began to cry. 

“You don’t want us to have any 
fun at all. I’ll run away, John, if 
you don’t look out.” 

“No, you will not,” said John; 
“ you’ll just step into the other room.” 

Larry ran towards the street door. 
John caught him, pushed him into 
the room, and locked the door. 

“You’ll stay there,” he said firm- 
ly, “ until you promise to go to Father 
Raymond’s catechism class.” 

Ned generally stood by John in his 
struggles with Larry ; but in this 
case he thought that John ought 
not to have burned Teddy Malone’s 
paper. 

“ Can’t Larry have any supper ?” 

“No, he can’t,” said John. 

“ Well, I think it is rather hard on 
a fellow. What is the use of learning 
to read, if we can’t read what we 
like,” grumbled Ned. 


63 The Boys in the Block. 

“ Look here,” answered John, 
helping his brother to several fried 
sausages ; “if you liked to eat rat 
poison do yon think I’d let you do 
it ? That kind of reading is no better 
than rat poison. See what it has 
done for Larry. It has made him 
disobedient, and careless, and lazy, 
and idle. He does not seem to have 
reverence for God or man. Last 
Sunday he was late for Mass, be- 
cause he spent his time in reading 
one of his trashy stories. Now, do 
you think that because a boy learns 
to eat, he ought to be let poison him- 
self? /don’t.” 

Ned made no answer. He finished 
his supper in silence. 

Larry sang in a loud voice for some 
time, to show his indifference to 
John’s punishment. After awhile 
John finished his part of the house- 
hold work and buried himself in his 
books. Ned finished his work and 


Tlie Boys in the Bloch. 63 

went to the catechism class. He 
found that Ted Malone and Henry 
Schwatz were not there. Their broth- 
ers could give no account of them. 
Father Raymond was worried by 
their absence. The day of the First 
Communion was quite near. 

“ I am afraid bad reading is injur- 
ing these boys,” Father Raymond 
said to Tom Keefe ; “ I hope you have 
given it up.” 

“ I don’t care for story-papers at 
all now,” answered Tom. “Father 
reads that book you gave us, ‘ Fabi- 
ola,’ every night, and we don’t have 
time to read anything else. I say, 
Father, if somebody would read 
stories to us fellows sometimes, we 
would not care so much for story- 
papers.” 

Father Raymond said in his heart 
that he wished parents would read 
good books to their children. It 
would save much sin and sorrow. 


64 The Boys in the Bloch. 

When Ned got home, he found 
John asleep over his arithmetic. He 
was sleepy himself, and he asked 
John for the key of the bedroom. 

John awoke with a start. 

“ Oh, it’s you, Ned,” he said ; “ I 
thought it was Larry.” 

“ Larry’s locked in.” 

“ Yes, I remember. Good-night. 
I want to finish all these examples in 
interest before I go to bed.” 

“ Good- night, John.” 

Ned unlocked the door of the bed- 
room and entered. 

“ Larry,” he said softly. 

No answer. 

Ned struck a match. It flared up, 
and he saw that the bed was empty. 
He looked under the bed, lighting 
another match. Larry was not there, 
hiding, as he had done before, in or- 
der to alarm his brothers. In sur- 
prise, Ned lit the candle. No Larry. 
The window w'as wide open. 


The Boys in the Bloch. 65 

“He lias gone,” Ned said. “Oh, 
dear, what will John say ?” 

His eye canght sight of a bit of 
folded paper on the table. He opened 
it. It was a scrawl done by Larry 
with a red lead-pencil. It ran : 

“Brothers, 

“ i rite to you in krimson ink which 
is the color of bind, it means bisness, 
it means that i am on the war-path, 
you have driven me fourth by your 
persecutions of a noble mind, that 
hungers to scour the vast perarie 
planes and cut the scalps from Injin 
murderers of our household gods. 
Fairwell. Goodbye, i go with a 
band of trusty friends to make a ca- 
reer in the wild west. If the Mur- 
phys say i gave them that penknife 
with the three blades, you take it 
from them, i only lent it to them. 
Dont have any fooling, just take it 
from them — fairwell till death do us 
part. 

“ L. Smyth E, 

“ TRAPPER.” 


66 


The Boys in the Bloch. 


Ned ran out into the other room 
with this note. John read it, and 
turning it over, saw a few more lines : 

“i go with T. Malone and H. 
Schwatz. We have trusty revolvers. 
Do not follow us. Persoot will be 
vane. Again adoo !” 

“ Well, this is nice ! I told you 
what bad reading would lead to. We 
may be thankful if these miserable 
boys haven’t stolen anything.” 

“ But, John, what shall we do ?” 

“ Let me think ; I might have 
known that Larry could easily get 
out on the fire-escape, and climb 
down ; but I did not think he was 
bad enough to do it. Go over to the 
Schwatzes’ and the Malones’ and find 
out where the boys are.” 

Ned ran off at once. 

Ted Malone and Henry Schwatz 
were missing. Ted had written with 
a red lead-pencil a few words on the 
back of a letter : 


The Boys in the Bloch. 67 

“ I go with the Red-handed Aven- 
gers. Accept my blessing or my 
cnrse, as you will.” 

Ted’s father laughed at this. 

“I’ll bless him,” he said, “until 
he is black and blue.” 

And he went to the police station, 
to put the police on the track of the 
missing boys. Henry Schwatz’s 
mother was in tears. Henry had 
gone ; where, she did not know. 

Ned was hurrying home, looking 
very pale and feeling very anxious, 
when he met Beppo Testa running 
along with his violin. Beppo had 
had a good day and he was whistling ; 
instead of running away from Ned, 
as he would have done some weeks 
ago, he stopped, smiling in a friendly 
way. 

“I can pay you back soon,” he 
said. “ I have made two dollars 
playing for some young people to 
dance.” 


68 


The Boys in the Bloch. 


“Never mind,” answered Ned. 
“Nina’s talk about paying was all 
nonsense. I’ve lost Larry — that is, 
Larry has run away.” 

“ Run away ?” echoed the Italian 
boy. 

“ Yes ; and we don’t know where 
he has gone.” 

Beppo looked concerned. Ned felt 
that it was pleasant to have sympa- 
thy just at that moment, and he felt, 
too, how little he deserved it. 

“Well,” said Beppo slowly, “I 
think I can help you. Wait.” 

He ran into his house and came out 
immediately with Giuseppe, having 
left his violin with Filippo and 
Nina. 

Nina had heard him say, hurried- 
ly, that Larry had run away. 

“ The American boys are all crazy,” 
was Nina’s satirical comment. Nina 
had a sharp tongue. It was her great 
fault. 


The Boys in the Bloch. 09 

Giuseppe seemed eager to help 
Ned. 

“ I saw your brother and Schwatz 
and Malone going down-town with 
some big bundles to-night. I told 
Beppo about it. They were in South 
Fifth Avenue.” 

While they were talking, they were 
joined by old Altieri, who came up 
out of his cellar. Beppo explained 
the trouble to the old man, who could 
not speak any English. 

Altieri asked sevetal questions. 

Beppo’s face lighted up. 

“Ah,” he said, “Signor Altieri 
has seen your brother at the New 
York side of the Jersey City Fer- 
ry.” 

“ At what time ?” asked Ned. 

Beppo repeated the question to 
Altieri. 

“ At nine o’clock,” answered Al- 
tieri. 

“ I must tell John at once.” 


70 Tlie Boys in the Bloch. 

“ Will you let us go with you?” 
asked Beppo, hesitatingly. “ We 
would like to help you and the good 
John.” 

Ned shook his head in consent. 

In the mean time John had been 
asking questions. But nobody in the 
block had seen the boys. He began 
to be seriously alarmed. What if 
Larry, led away by his daily com- 
panionship with young — although 
imaginary — thieves and law-breakers, 
had followed their examples ? What 
if he had fallen into the hands of the 
police ? John, while he went from 
neighbor to neighbor, asking after 
the boys, prayed that this might not 
be. 

He had returned to the house when 
Ned came in, followed by Giuseppe 
and Beppo. 

Ned breathlessly told John that 
the boys had been seen. A few ques- 
tions, answered by the boys, con- 


The Boys in the Bloch. 71 

vinced John that Larry had been 
near the Cortlandt Street Ferry. 

“ We must go after them,” he said. 
“ Come, Ned — at once !” 

Giuseppe ran home to tell his peo- 
ple that he was going with the 
searching party. The delay seemed 
very long to John. At last they 
started. John could hardly restrain 
his impatience. They entered a horse- 
car, and Beppo, who knew the 
driver, asked him to go quickly. 
The man laughed, for just then a 
stout woman with a basket insisted 
on getting in. She took her time, 
and she had hardly gotten into her 
seat, when a large party coming out 
of a house, stopped the car. They 
said good-by to each other many 
times. Then several children had to 
be lifted in and half a dozen bundles. 
John thought the car would never 
move. He felt like getting out and 
pushing it with his shoulder. 


72 The Boys in the Bloch. 

At last the car started again. But 
every now and then somebody sig- 
nalled it to stop. 

“ Let’s get out and walk,” John 
said. 

“No,” said Beppo ; “we cannot 
walk as fast as the car goes, in spite 
of the stops.” 

After a time — many hours it seemed 
to John— the boys reached Cortlandt 
Street. They crossed the ferrj’’ to 
Jersey City. Everything that was 
usually rapid in motion seemed slow 
to-night. He thought that the ferry- 
boat would never leave the slip. And 
when it did glide out into the river, 
it seemed almost stationary. It was 
going rapidly, but John’s impatience 
outstripped it. 

They reached Jersey City. It was 
dark ; the Pennsylvania Railroad 
station glowed with light ; but the 
city, except for an occasional glim- 
mer, seemed to be in gloom. 


The Boys in the Bloch. 73 

It was arranged that Ned and Bep- 
po should go into the station to ask 
whether the boys had been seen by any 
of the railroad officials, while John 
and Giuseppe went into the city. 

John applied to a policeman. 

No ; he had seen no boys like the 
ones described. But then he had 
been on this beat only since half-past 
nine o’clock. Another policeman 
was asked, with no more effect. In 
a few minutes Ned and Beppo came 
back. They had heard nothing of 
the boys. 

John began to believe that they 
were on the wrong track. 

They stood opposite the station, 
near the hotel, in consultation. Bep- 
po did not join in it. He was think- 
ing. 

He had noticed an Italian fruit- 
seller on the corner as he came in. 
He proposed that John should ask 
him. John did. 


74 


Tlie Boys in the Bloch. 


Boys ? He had seen many boys — 
many, many boys — he stretched out 
his hands to show how many boys he 
had seen — but not three boys of the 
kind described. 

John turned away. But Giuseppe 
was not so easily baffled. He spoke 
to the man in Italian. 

“ AUro !" exclaimed the man. “ I 
did not know you were Italian. I 
wish I had seen the boys for your 
sake. What do you want them 
for?” 

“ They have run away from home.” 

“ It is too bad. Tell me how they 
looked.” 

Beppo described them again in 
Italian. 

“ One might have had a rifle over 
his shoulder,” he said, remembering 
that Henry Schwatz had probably 
carried his father’s rifle. 

“ Eceo .'” exclaimed the man ; “I 
have seen the boys !” 


The Boys in the Blocki 75 

Beppo rapidly translated tlie an- 
swer to John. 

“ Where ? Where ? Tell me 
where cried John. 

The fruit-seller looked at him sus- 
piciously. He asked Beppo whether 
his telling anything about the boys 
would cause him to be brought into 
court, “For,” he said, “I could 
not afford to lose the time. I have 
no one to help me at the stand.” 

“ I promise you there will be no 
trouble.” 

Then the Italian told them that the 
boys — three in number, one with a 
rifle — asked him the way to the 
woods. The boys had gone straight 
on. This had happened only an hour 
before. The Italian told them where 
a belt of woods was ; he knew it 
well ; he went there for chestnuts in 
the fall. He told them how to get 
there. 

“ It is rather cold for camping out,” 


70 'The Boys in the Block. 

said Ned, shivering at the thought 
of such a thing. “I wouldn’t like 
to try it.” 

John did not answer. In his eager- 
ness talk seemed a waste of time. 
***** 

Ted Malone, Henry Schwatz, and 
Larry had walked rapidly through 
the streets towards the belt of woods 
mentioned by the Italian. Schwatz 
had three blankets strapped to his 
back, a small revolver in his pocket, 
half a dollar, and his father’s rifle on 
his shoulder. Ted Malone had a 
knife— a table-knife well sharpened 
— a loaf of bread tied up in a hand- 
kerchief, and two dollars. Larry 
had no weapon, but he had a ther- 
mometer, which the other boys looked 
on with much respect, four dollars, 
and a few odds and ends — broken but- 
tons, a hand-glass, etc., to be used 
in trading with those Indians who 


The Boys in the BlocJc. 77 

should be courageous enough to re- 
sist these mighty hunters. 

They had tramped along some dis- 
tance, when Larry, who felt quite 
rich, proposed to have something to 
eat. They entered a restaurant, and 
Larry paid for oysters and cigarettes, 
“ like a little man,” as the other boys 
said. A half-hour was used up in 
this way. After this they did not 
hurry ; they felt in better spirits, and 
loitered, looking into all the win- 
dows. 

A large grocery store brilliantly 
lighted attracted them. 

“We shall need some provisions,” 
said Henry Schwatz, looking through 
the large pane of plate glass. “We 
ought to buy some. This is a good 
place.” 

The store was empty apparently, 
but behind the counter, in a corner, 
the proprietor of it sat dozing over a 
newspaper. He had sent his clerk 


78 The Boys in the Block. 

off early and lie was about to close 
the store for the night. 

“ There’s a lovely ham,” said Ted 
Malone. “ I wish we had that. It 
wouldn’t be hard to carry, and we 
could broil part of it for breakfast, 
you know.” 

Schwatz, who was of a prudent 
turn, counted his money, and re- 
marked that when they killed a deer 
or two, they would have meat enough. 
Still, the ham had attractions for Ted 
Malone. 

“ Don’t you remember,” he said, 
as he pressed his nose against the 
glass, “ how Red-headed Bob fooled 
the grocer out of half a cow in ‘ The 
Belle of the Prairies ’ 1 Bob went in, 
you know, and while the grocer 
wasn’t looking, he hooked the beef 
and was off like a flash.” 

“But that was stealing,” said 
Henry Schwatz. 

“ All’s fair in war, boys ; now I 


The Boys in the Bloch. 


79 


say why shouldn’t we get that ham, 
just as Bob did the beef, hey 

Ted tried to speak in a jolly way, 
but he was forced to avert his eyes 
from the others. 

“ We’ve got to live on the world, 
yon know, and we may as well begin 
at once,” he went on. “Don’t be 
fools ! Schwatz stole his father’s rifle, 
and you, Larry, have a dollar in your 
pocket that belonged to John.” 

Larry reddened and hung his head. 

“Let’s toss up,” continued Ted, 
taking a cent from his pocket. ‘ ‘ Head, 
you hook the ham ; tail, I do it.” 

“But it would be stealing,” said 
Schwatz. “I’ll not do it.” 

“ Nobody asked you,” said Ted 
Malone, with a sneer. “You haven’t 
got heart enough for it. But Larry 
has, and I have. Who’s afraid ? 
There’s nobody in the store.” 

The man behind the counter had 
heard the whispers of the boys. He 


80 The Boys in the Block. 

could not make out what they said, 
but he saw they were plotting some 
mischief. He leaned back until the 
two piles of starch boxes between 
which he sat hid him entirely from 
view. 

Larry’s good angel whispered to 
him. He hesitated between the an- 
gel’s whisper and Ted’s sneer. He 
had read many times of how the 
smart boy in the story-papers had 
outwitted storekeepers and appropri- 
ated their goods. He had laughed 
over their tricks, until he came to be- 
lieve that stealing was not so bad 
after all. But his conscience awoke 
when the temptation was placed so 
boldly in his way. 

Ted Malone threw up the cent, giv- 
ing it an adroit twist. 

“Head!” 

Larry moved uneasily from the 
window. 

“ I tell you what,” Ted said, hav- 


The Boys in the Block. 81 

ing taken another look at the inside 
of the shop, “why shouldn’t you 
take a handful of the cash out of the 
drawer ? It would come in mighty 
well while we’ re travelling. Y ou bet ! ’ ’ 

Larry turned away his head. 

“ It will be easy enough. Schwatz 
and I will stand here and give the 
signal if anybody comes. Now go 
in ; be a man.” 

Ted Malone was twice as big as 
Larry. He was something of a bully, 
too, as the boys in the block well 
knew. He imitated as far as he could 
his favorite heroes, and knocked 
down any other boy who defied him. 

“ I can’t !” said Larry. “ It would 
be wrong ; it would break John’s 
heart.” 

“ You’re a coward !” cried Ted, 
shaking his fist in Larry’s face. 
“ Do you think I’m going to let you 
spoil everything ? Go in, I say !” 

Larry hesitated. He had great re- 


83 Tlie Boys in the Bloch. 

spect for Ted Malone’s superiority. 
He hated to have Ted think he was 
a coward ; but he remembered the 
words of the commandment, “Thou 
shalt not steal !” 

“ He’s afraid !” sneered Ted Ma- 
lone angrily. “You weren’t afraid 
to take John’s dollar.” 

“ He said I might have it to buy 
a hat with,” answered Larry, “ and 
I’ll buy one or give him back the 
money.” 

“You will, will you?” exclaimed 
Ted, as his fist fell on Larry’s head. 
He raised his hand again to give an- 
other blow, when suddenly he was 
knocked over, and Beppo, with flash- 
ing eyes, arose out of the darkness. 
His sharp eyes had seen the group of 
boys at the window. John and the 
others had turned down another 
street, but Beppo had kept on, in 
spite of their opposition to turning 
into a street which seemed so quiet. 


The Boys in the BlocJc. 


83 


Beppo liad crept softly up to the 
boys and heard their dialogue. His 
heart beat very fast when he saw that 
LarrjT' was about to yield. He was 
afraid that the boys might run away 
if they discovered him. He hoped 
that John and the others might come ; 
but they did not, so he was obliged 
to do what he could. It was very 
effective. 

“ Beppo !” Larry exclaimed. 

Ted Malone picked himself up and 
looked sullenly at Beppo. 

“I owe you one,” he said, “and 
I’ll give it to you if you don’t join 
our band.” 

Beppo’s eyes flashed. 

“ I will not join a band of thieves.” 

Ted shook his fist, but Beppo’s les- 
son had been sevei’e enough to pre- 
vent him from doing anything more. 

“ I am glad you came, Beppo,” 
Larry said. “ I am sorry I got into 
this. I’d go back if I thought John 


84 The Boys in the Bloch. 

would forgive me. I don’t want to 
join a band of thieves either. ” 

“ John !” cried Beppo ; “ John ! 
John ! John !” 

Ted Malone took to his heels. 

John came running. Larry threw 
himself into his big brother’s arms 
and began to cry. 

“I’ll never read another story- 
paper, ” he sobbed. And he kept his 
promise. 

4f * * 4f * 

Ted Malone wandered about the 
country all night. In the morning, 
in trying to steal a ride on a passing 
train, he had his foot crushed so bad- 
ly that it had to be cut off. He never 
speaks of that awful night of terror. 
He did not make his First Commu- 
nion with the other boys, althoragh 
Larry did. 

Father Raymond says, with just 
pride, that there are no better be- 


The Boys in the Block. 85 

liaved boys in New York than the 
boys in the block. He now teaches 
the “ Catechism of Perseverance” to 
the larger boys, and so well have they 
learned the meaning of charity, that 
there is very seldom a fight among 
them. They are all growing pros- 
perous, because they are all industri- 
ous and they all help one another. 
Often Beppo and Giuseppe come to 
John’s house for a little fun. 

John has been promoted, and 
though he still keeps house, Father 
llaymond gives him a lesson in arith- 
metic twice a week. He is happy, as 
he deserves to be, in the fact that his 
two “boys” are trying to do their 
duty. 


Printed by Benziger Brothers, New York. 


W 1 4 7 








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